Bait, Chapter 24.
"So basically what Yen Sid was saying... is that we can go back to the tower in Twilight Town after we get this over with?" Riku asked.
Yen Sid had declared Riku was healed enough to have his stitches removed yesterday. Of course, everyone seemed to be too busy to tend to the matter, what with their imminent departure as well as Queen Minnie's return from her own travels.
Riku never would have guessed that one day would allow him enough healing time to make the process of removing the stitches more painful than he would have preferred- even in the gentle hands of King Mickey, who Yen Sid had asked to do this while he attended to other affairs.
"Pretty much. He feels you all have been away from your training for far too long. And now there's threat of war on the horizon, so it's best to keep tabs on everyone."
The mouse was purposefully going slowly, trying to inflict as little pain as possible, but to Riku it seemed to make the discomfort drag on, until he nearly snapped at him to just yank them out. The mouse complied, snipping one of the threads with delicate looking scissors. Seizing one end of it with a tweezer, he yanked it out. Hard.
Riku had bitten his lip so hard it drew blood in effort to hold back a yelp. He had just learned the hard way why you don't question a medic. The force of the removal had caused the thread to tear right through his skin, leaving a short cut that was already welling with blood. It was a small enough wound that Mickey could close it with Cure, but that didn't make the pain any less prevalent.
"Why don't you use that stuff Yen Sid had used on him after he got those stitches?" Sora asked, looking away from what was going on. The sight of Riku's blood was stirring up memories of that awful procedure and making him feel ill as a result. The fact that Riku was now bleeding from the mouth after biting his lip so hard wasn't helping.
"That intincture was meant for open wounds and burns. Since Riku's wound is mostly healed, it wouldn't work. Perhaps you could give some of that salve Yen Sid made you a try."
"Perhaps..." Riku winced as Mickey slowly pulled another stitch from his chest. "But I think I'll wait till this is over with. Its only two more stitches."
"Fine. Just try to keep still while I remove them, or it will only hurt more. Sora, can you hand me the gauze on the other table? Sora?"
Sora's mind had gone elsewhere- to a full-blown flashback of several days earlier. He was watching Riku undergo the awful procedure of removing the blade fragment again. He could smell the blood, he could hear Riku screaming as the fragment emerged from his body. He could feel the terror and grief as he saw his best friend seem to die before his eyes, while Yen Sid's efforts to revive him nearly failed. And the relief he felt when he heard Riku speak his name for the first time in days...
"Sora?"
Sora jumped as Riku brought him out of his musings.
"Mickey just finished up, we can go back to what we were doing before..."
"Yes... What were we doing?"
"Practicing magic in the courtyard. Come on, maybe we can work in a little sparring between sessions..."
"That sounds good..."
XXXXXXXXX
"WHOA!" An awe-struck Kairi exclaimed. She had just witnessed the Firaga Burst, a fire spell that made Sora and Riku look as though they had summoned miniature suns that released fireballs from their Keyblades. Lea, who specialized in fire element, did not look impressed.
"Don't expect to get that one right away. Its fire in one of it's most advanced forms. I have just demonstrated that to show you how to make elements take on different forms. Some people, like Lea, have stronger traces of one element than others and will favor them, but we all have some quantity of the basic elements within us. We use mana to help shape those elements and give them form."
"Sounds like someone has had too much free time with Yen Sid." Lea muttered sarcastically about Riku's lecture on magical theory. Sora shot him a look, trying to take everything in so he wouldn't lose control like the last time he was in combat. But as the eldest in the group, Lea clearly resented having to call Riku "sensei."
"Ok, aim for the fountains when you cast your spells- we don't want to burn the gardens down! Use fire spells only." Riku divided them up, and was now giving advice to Kairi, who held Destiny's Embrace at arms length, a glowing orb of magic forming at it's end. Fire was not one of Kairi's strong suits.
"Hmmph! I'll show Mr. Keyblade Master he's not the only one here who's mastered fire magic!" Lea exclaimed bitterly, loud enough for Sora to hear.
"No, Lea! Don't do it!" Sora exclaimed, but it was too late. Lea had summoned a large Firaga Burst, one that was way too big to be easily controlled. It was quickly becoming unstable. Sora ducked behind a bush and crawled as far away from him as he could. Riku noticed the large, unstable mass of magic and instinctively shoved Kairi under the fountain jets.
"Lea, call it off! Release your magic!" Riku shouted at him, right as a ball of enchanted fire broke free and headed right for him.
End of Chapter 24